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CHITRAL: A project to impart leadership and capacity building training to women councillors concluded here on Friday.
Funded by the USAID-Small Grants and Ambassador’s Fund programme, the project was implemented by Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD-Pakistan). The project continued for eight months, targeting 217 women councilors of all the three tiers of the local government.
The women councillors attending the training sessions expressed satisfaction over the quality of training imparted to them to know the system and its working, leading to their enlightenment in political arena.
Sifat Bibi, a member of the district council, said she came to know for the first time about her roles and responsibilities as a member of local bodies. “After getting the trainings, now I am able to serve the women with more confidence and knowledge than before,” she said.
She said the women councillors were now able to know the minute details of budget making and financial rules that governed the system.
“The women attending the sessions have started to assert themselves in their respective councils by taking active part in the proceedings. Only the other day, the women councillors, for the first time, staged a walkout from the house to register their protest against the uneven allocation of development funds in the district council,” she said.
Abida Sharif, Zulaikha Bibi and others said the training sessions had strengthened them politically.
Earlier, the team leader of LEAD-Pakistan, Azhar Qureshi, briefed the participants about the project and said all the 217 women councillors elected to the village, tehsil and district councils formed the target of the project, out of which, 151 attended the training sessions.
He said improved performance of women political leaders was one of the expected outcomes of the project which will go a long way in political as well as economic emancipation of women in this backward and remote part of the country.
Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2018
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